Improvement in air-engines



'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

HENRY NORMAN AN D CHARLES F. DIETRICH, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

IMPROVEMENT ll AIR-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent-No. 136,259, dated February 25, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY NORMAN and CHARLES F. DIETRICH, of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented an Improved Air-Engine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawing and the letters of reference marked thereon making part of this specication, in which- Figure l is a vertical sectional view. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the pressurecylinders when the apparatus is used as a gascompressor.

The object of our invention is to provide a simple and practical means for compressing air and gases in suitable cylinders, so connected with the cylinder of any ordinary pump that the action of its piston shall, after the cylinders have been properly filled or supplied, alternately raise and lower the column of water, oil, or mercury, as the case may be, in the pressure-cylinders. The nature of our invention consists in providing the pressure-cylinders each with weighted suction-valves, and also with discharge-valves, and in connecting the pressure-cylinders and the cylinder ofthe pump by pipes leading from the respective bases of the pressure-cylinders, and entering the latter at such sections thereof that while the one shall be at a point above the highest stroke of the piston the other shall be correspondingly low. It is this system of connecting the cylinders together that, after they have been properly supplied with water, oil, or mercury, through the action of its piston, insures the regular alternate rise and fall of the liquid pressure-columns in the cylinders, a-s the movement ofthe piston, whichwithdraws the liquid from one of these cylinders, so lowering its column as to create an air or gas chamber, forces the liquid into the other, elevating its columns, and consequently correspondingly contracting the air or gas space or chamber above the same. As these pressure-cylinders are, of course, air-tight, as the liquid column in each is lowered a vacuum or partial vacuum is the result, which instantly so acts on its suction-valve as to open the same for the admission of air or gas; which now rushes in, and the valve being weighted it is automatically closed so soon as the cylinder is filled. Now, as the column again rises it presses against the air or gas and forces it to The construction and operation of our invention as an air-compressor are as follows. The additional tube and arrangement of valves therein-which is the only change that is required to convert it into a gas-compressor, as whether air or gas is compressed the principle of operation is identically the same--wll be afterward alluded to:

.A is the driving-shaft, and a a are crankarms made fast thereto. This shaft A is' secured in journal-bearings A A', and is operated in the usual manner by any suitable power or motor. Between these crankarms a a is secured the jointed piston-rod B. The direct movement of the lower section of this piston-rod B, in a direct linear line, is secured by means of slotted parallel guide-bars B B attached to the upper section of the cylinder O, and in the slotted faces of which rest and travel the lateral bearing-pins b b of the jointed piston-rod B. O is an ordinary pump-cylinder, and is secured or seated on any suitable bearing X. O is the piston, and is attached to the rod so as to operate or act in the cylinder O on the usual and well-known principle ofthe pump. D D are pressure-cylinders, and are secured in suitable bearings y y. These cylinders are entirely independent of each other, and each is provided at its upper sec-A tion or head with two openings-one an inlet and the other an outlet-which are respectively closed by the suction-valves d d and dischargevalves e e. The suction-valves l d of the two cylinders are counterbalanced by rods d1 d1 and weights d2 d. Over each of these discharge-valves e e, as well as over the dischargevalve e1 of the tube E, are placed lids h, which are respectively fastened by a clamp, H, and screw l1. and in such manner as to receive perfect air-tight connections. The outlet-openings of the cylinders D D, which the valves e e operate to close, are connected with the nozzles or short vertical sections e2 e2 of the discharge-tube E. From the center of this tube E extends a pipe, F, which is provided with a valve, e1, and which is, in every respect, a counterpart of the valves e c, and acts identically in the same way. To this pipe Fis attached the distributing-pipe F', by means of which the compressed air or gas is carried to any suitable receptacle, and which the apparatus may be designed to supply. At the base of each pressure-cylinder D D' is an opening, g or g', and from which openings lead, respectively, the pipes G G'. These pipes G G' are connected with the openings c c' of the pump-cylinder C, the opening c being at such section of said cylinder as to be always above the highest stroke of the piston C', and the other opening, c', at such section of the cylinder as to be always correspondingly below the stroke of the piston.

As the operation of the apparatus herein described is the same, whether used as an air or as a gas compressor, before detailing` said operation we will refer to the only change that has to be made in the mechanism, and in its entire arrangement to convert it from an air to a gas compressor. As the air is supplied directly from the atmosphere without which surrounds the apparatus it is unnecessary that the openings in the cylinders D D', which the suction-valves d d close, should be connected with conduits or conducting-tubes for conveying the air required to the cylinders, and therefore the openin gs and weighted valves d d are simply arranged as shown in Fig. l; but when the apparatus is used in connection with gas it is essential that the same should be fed by a pipe or tube leading from the gasometer or reservoir that is designed to supply the gas, in which case the supply-pipe M terminates in tubular arms m m, which are connected with the cylinders, and which are provided with weighted suction-valves d d., as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and which valves operate precisely as do the suction-valves d d of Fig. 1.

The dilerent features being cach constructed of any suitable material for the purpose designed, and all arranged as hereinbefore stated and clearly illustrated in the drawing', the apparatus is ready for operation. The cylinder G, both above and below the piston U', is now, by any convenient means, filled with water, oil, or mercury, as the ease may be, and the piston is then elevated toits highest point, which movement, of course, forces or drives the liquid through the pipe G into lthe pressure-cylinder D, and which partially fills the same; its valve cl is now opened and sufficient of the liquid is poured in to completely ill the cylinder. The return movement of the piston, in like manner, through t-he pipe G', partiallylls the cylinder D'. Its valve d is now opened, and liquid sufficient to fill the entire interior chamber ofthe cylinder is supplied; but the downward stroke of the piston, which partially filled the cylinder D',

- closes.

lowered or depressed the liquid column in the cylinder D, which, being air-tight, leaves, necessarily, between the surface of the liquid column and upper section of the cylinder, a vacuum, or partial vacuum, and which instantly opens the valve d for the admission of air or gas, and the same rushes in in suflicient quantities to completely ill the cylinder, when the weighted valve d automatically The next upward stroke of the piston lowers the liquid column of the cylinder D', when its valve d is, in like manner, opened to fill the space above the column 5 but the movement of the piston which has caused the depression of the liquid column in the cylinder D' correspondingly elevated that of the cylinder D, and which compresses the air or gas contained therein, driving it through its pressure, to open the valve e and to enter the tube E, and from whence, by the valve e', it escapes out, by the tube F, into the distributing tube or pipe F'.

Thus it will be seen that the action of the piston alternately elevates and lowers the liquid columns of the cylinders D D' in such manner that when the column is lowered the air or gas is drawn in, and when elevated the air or gas is compressed througlrthe action of the column, and through its pressure discharged. This continuous action ofthe pressurecylinders is secured in such manner that while the partial vacuums created are instantly lled by air or gas, as the column is again elevated all the compressed air is dri ven forth, the liquid column itself so filling the entire interior surface of the cylinder as to leave no space or chamber between the upper surface of the column and the upper section of the cylinder for the air to remain and there expand, and which is a most important advantage, and one that the ordinary and direct action of a piston can never secure, because no matter how nicely the latter may operate a certain space between its disk-face and valved head of the cylinder is inevitably left.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, isi The cylinder C, piston C', pressurecylin ders D D' having valves d d and e c, and pipes G G', the whole being so combined and arranged as to operate substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY NORMAN. CHARLES F. DIETRICH.

Witnesses as to H. NORMAN:

H. N. J ENKINS, J AMES C. KIDDELL.

Vitnesses as to C. F. DIETRICH:

EDWIN` u J AMES, Jos. TK. PLANT. 

